The Dragon SS-201 is a little different to the
run of the mill handheld. It operates on 10 metres, instead of
the more traditional 2m or 70cm, and it is capable of AM, FM and
SSB modes. The origins of this radio, like most of the 10m only
radios lie in the 27 MHz CB band, where there is a demand for
"export" radios. While this means there is an increased
risk of piracy on 10 metres, it also means there is now no excuse
for us amateurs not to occupy this interesting band, as
inexpensive gear such as the Dragon is now readily available.

First
Impressions.

The Dragon was packaged in a professional
looking box which looked a little more "flashy" than
the usual bland boxes amateur gear comes in. Inside was the
radio, a battery case (where's the batteries?), manual, carry
strap and, as a nice touch, a 12V cigarette lighter lead, so the
unit is ready to run mobile (assuming you have an antenna on the
car). The manual is "dumbed down" and obviously
intended for those who intend to use the Dragon as a standard 40
channel CB transceiver. No mention is made of the "VFO
mode", repeaters or other amateur specific features, which
are activated by means of a special key sequence once the radio
is powered up. It's worth noting that the channelised mode of the
radio, while defaulting to the standard 40 (US/Australian) CB
channels (plus extra "in between" channels 3A, 7A,
etc), actually can be set to one of 10 bands, which allows the
radio to cover from 25.165 MHz to 29.695 Mhz in 10 kHz steps
(eeeek!).

Speaking of powering up, a couple of annoying
"features" immediately made their presence felt.
Firstly, the radio powers up in channelised mode, tuned to the CB
emergency channel (channel 9) and in FM(!) mode. Hardly a useful
combination for either CB or amateur operation. Secondly, a LOUD
beep is emitted from the speaker every time a button is pressed.
Unfortunately, the volume control has no effect on the loudness
of the beep, which is highly annoying, and if you're using
headphones, potentially damaging. Can we please have the beep
before the volume control guys?

While speaking of niggles, two other issues
spring to mind. There is no battery backup for the radio's
memory, so all previously used data is lost when the radio is
turned off, and one has to go through the process of setting up
VFO mode, the desired frequency, repeater offset, mode, etc,
which typically requires a dozen keystrokes and associated
beeping, before the rig is ready for use! Even pinching a few
microamps from the main battery to keep the operating data in
memory while the rig is turned off would have sufficed. The other
annoyance is that setting the volume to minimum does not fully
quieten the radio. A minor quibble.

Back to the battery case. It was a surprise to
discover that no batteries were surprised with the Dragon.
Instead, the battery case splits open to reveal spaces for 9 AA
cells. However, while this was an obvious cost cutting measure by
the manufacturer, it is an advantage for the end user. Firstly,
one can choose their preferred type of battery (I went for 1300
mAh NiMH cells), and secondly, once the cells wear out, it's only
$30 - $40 for a replacement set of cells, instead of $100 or more
for a new pack. A trickle charging circuit is built in, so once
the cells are loaded into the pack, it's like a normal
rechargeable battery pack to use.

Once the quirks of the Dragon were sorted out,
operation of the rig is quite simple and the manual is not really
needed, which is just as well, as it doesn't cover VFO mode at
all. The SS-201 passed the "turn on and fly without
RTFM" test with ease. However, I did notice that the
pushbuttons don't seem to be properly debounced, which can result
in multiple keypresses being registered if you press a key once
lightly.

On air:

Due to antenna limitations and the home QTH not
favouring the centres of local 10 metre activity, initial
operation was on receive only. I initially had a listen through
the CB channels, and quickly found some of the usual loudmouths
on 35 LSB. The resolved audio was excellent, and the receiver
sensitivity seemed to be adequate. In addition, any signal above
S1 sounded quite strong and clear. Listening to truckies on AM
and the VK3RHF 10 metre repeater gave similar results for AM and
FM. The SS-201 also proved itself capable of easily receiving the
beacon and transponder downlink of the RS-13 satellite, using
only a 1.8 metre long helical CB whip antenna on a magnetic
mount. The receiver does include an RF gain control, which I
haven't had to use so far, besides verifying that it does work.
The only negative point about the receiver is that there is no
noise blanker, which would be useful for mobile operation.

During my satellite tests, a quirk of the
tuning system became obvious. Like a number of other handhelds,
the Dragon sports a "step" button, which is to select
the tuning steps (which are 1kHz, 10 kHz and 100kHz). However,
unlike other radios, this function doesn't simply alter the
tuning steps, but it is actually a 4 position toggle. The normal
setting is to tune up and down the VFO range in 10 kHz steps.
Pressing the step button drops the radio back to 1 kHz steps, but
now, the up/down buttons affect only that digit of the frequncy.
Pressing the step button again switches the focus to the 10 kHz
digit, and a third press switches to the 100 kHz position. Again,
only the highlighted digit can be changed. A fourth press of the
step button puts the radio back into normal 10 kHz step tuning
mode. This makes some small frequency changes a frustrating
exercise, if you need to go from (say) 29.469 to 29.470 MHz. Such
a QSY would take several keystrokes instead of the one you'd
expect.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the
SS-201 is the alignment of the transmitter. The transmitter is
obviously aligned with CB operators in mind. The modulation in
all modes was set low, especially the FM deviation, which was so
low that the transmitted audio is inaudible through the VK3RHF
repeater, and barely audible on a scanner in the same room. AM
and SSB were somewhat better (i.e. useable), but it still took a
good shout to get a reasonably loud signal on AM. Apparently,
this is how the Dragons are aligned in the factory, with the
especially poor FM result being due to the Tx being
conservatively aligned for 1.5 kHz deviation (as used on CB in
European countries), instead of the 5kHz that our 10 metre
repeaters use. However, at least one distributor will be
realigning the radios before they're sold, so this may not be a
problem in the future. It is worth noting that what audio that
could be heard seemed to be of fairly high quality.

Conclusion:

The Dragon SS-201 is a unique radio with lots
of potential and a number of annoying little quirks. For the
portable 10 metre operator, it can't be beaten, as there is no
other radio on the market with the same degree of portability and
versatiliy (there is another 10m handheld on the market, but it
doesn't include FM). If the quirks of the radio were to be
addressed by the manufacturer, this could one very good 10 metre
rig. Gone are the days where "10 metres pedestrian
mobile" meant a converted CB, gell cell and a mobile whip on
a golf buggy! The Dragon does it all in one neat package.

Wish list:

Non volatile memory, backup battery or CPU
powered from main battery to preserve memory when radio
is switched off.

Adjustable volume for keypress beeps.

True VFO operation for all step sizes (1
kHz to 100 kHz), and 100 Hz steps would be nice also.

Tuning knob.

Switchable XIT operation for SSB, to help
fill in those annoying 1 kHz gaps.

Memories for popular frequencies
(especially repeaters).

VFO operation from 24 to 30 MHz. Afterall,
channelised operation starts at 25.165 MHz. It's only a
short hop from there down to the 12 metre band (a dual
bander, nice!).

Overall rating:

3 out of 5.

Copyright
and Disclaimer:

This review is copyright Tony Langdon, 2000,
All rights reserved Persons or organisations wishing to
distribute part, all, or a derivative of this review are welcome
to email me on the link below. Unauthorised distribution is
prohibited.

This review is provided for the benefit of
radio amateurs, and was independently written by me without the
assistance of or under the direction of any other party,
continuing my tradition of reviewing most new radio equipment I
purchase.